The U.S. Wireless Wall is crumbling. This time next year, the wall may have fallen.
Metaphorically, the Wireless Wall is not unlike the Berlin Wall, which separated East Berlin and West Berlin from 1961 until 1989. Only in the U.S. wireless industry, the Wall separates the protect-their-turf carriers from the we-want-freedom consumers.
There’s been a steady assault on the Wireless Wall this year; it’s cracked but not fallen. Yet. The latest blow comes from the No. 2 U.S. carrier, Verizon Wireless, which plans to support the Google-led Open Handset Alliance and its new, open-source software platform Android. Together OHA and Android seek openness that will allow any phone and any application to be used on any network.
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